Article and a method of mounting characters of wood, or the like, on a background of wood, or similar materials



June 15, 1943. A. w. FL'INT ARTICLE AND A WOOD, OR THE LI 0R SINiILAR MATERIALS Filed June 15, 19510 METHOD OF MOUNTING CHARACTERS OF KE ON A BACKGROUND OF WOOD,

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Patented June 15, 1943 ARTICLE AND CHARACTERS ON A BACKGROUND LAB MATERIALS A METHOD OF MOUNTING OF WOOD, OR THE LIKE,

OF WOOD, OR SIlVII- Arthur W. Flint, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Application June 15, 1940, Serial No. 340,692 In Canada June 15, 1939 8 Claims.

The present invention relates to a method of mounting on a base or background of wood, or similar materials, letters, artistic or other designs, and characters, made of wood, wood veneer, and wood veneer and paper, which are'usually and preferably of contrasting color, and grain, and often of different kind of wood, from that of the background material.

Heretofore it has been found practically, not possible to make characters of wood veneer adhere permanently to a wood base, as the said characters have to be cut out of the veneer sheet by a die, and then glued on the base material, and the portion of the veneer sheet remaining unused, thereafter stripped? from the cut-out characters of veneer. It was found that usually the veneer would crack and break, and tear the veneer characters, while the stripping operation was taking place, so badly, that it was not practicable as a method to mount unbacked veneer on a wood background sheet of material. However as the present invention will disclose hereinafter, after having overcome many difficulties of a physical character, as well as of an inventive kind, the invention has proved to be both practical and successful.

Many improvements have been made in the apparatus used, as well as in the kinds of materials used, as will be explained in the following description. As illustrations in this respect, for instance, it was found that if the sheet of wood veneer were backed with a sheet of paper, glued together to act as a unitary sheet, and thereafter the characters cut by the die therefrom, that the wood-veneer characters would no longer split and break, when the unused portions of the wood veneer sheet were stripped from the characters which had been mounted on the base material.

Two very difierent kinds of glue were found to be necessary in carrying out the present method, which was discovered only after experimentation; a special kind of steel cutting-die has been found necessary having sharp and deep cutting edges, in order to cut the characters desired, from the sheet of veneer material, and impress the edges of the characters into the surface of the basic wood material on which they are mounted. Further that it was necessary to resort to a combination of devices in order to make the characters permanently mounted on the wood background, that is to say the wood veneer characters had first to be glued to a paper backing, and then the edges of same embedded into the wood base, and the paper also had to be glued to the surface of the said basic material. It was found also that a proper amount of heating of the wood veneer characters; and a suitable amount of pressure should be used on the cutting-die in order to accomplish the end sought herein.

It was also found that all the above features had to be combined, as will all be fully explained hereinafter in this specification, before the characters and designs of wood veneer could be successfully, and permanently mounted on the basic wood background, using only a single operation of an embossing machine for the purpose.

All the above features of the present method, as well as others will be brought out more clearly, and precisely in the following description.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, I have shown an embodiment of the present invention, and the procedure of use thereof, and in which;

Figure 1 is a front view of a sheet of wood veneer, with a sheet of paper glued to same to form a backing therefor.

Figure 2 is an edge View of Figure 1, taken from the right side thereof.

Figure 3 is a front view of a loose-leaf book having covers made of wood, such as plywood, and showing letters and other characters made of wood veneer, mounted thereon in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 4 is an enlarged front view of one of the letters as usually mounted on the plywood base, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is across-section on line 5-5 of Figure 4, illustrating the letter shown in Figure 4, mounted on the plywood base.

Figure 6 is a front view of a portion of a cuttingdie as improved and used in the present invention.

Figure '7 is a section taken on line '|'l of Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a front view of a portion of an 'embossing machine, with the materials used in the present invention properly superimposed upon each other to illustrate the manner of using the invention.

Figure 9 is an enlarged cross-section of a cutting-die, showing the special improvements inthe dies used to perform the present invention.

In the drawing a sheet of wood veneer l, preferably according to the present practice of the invention, about one-eighty-fifth part of an inch in thickness is used, from which to cut or shear the various types of characters such as letters, art or other designs, which it is desired to superimpose and mount permanently on a background orbase 2, of plywood or other suitable or similar material. In Figure 1 of the drawing is illustrated a sheet of wood veneer I, on the back of which is a sheet of paper 3, (usually of so-called brown paper), which is glued thereon, using a special kind of glue preferably which has a high melting point, and a low coefficient of viscosity, and is designated in the trade as calf-skin glue. This glue just referred to with glycerine added, makes a flexible glue, which when spread on the wood veneer sheet bot, will cool and jell sufficiently to fill up the open pores of the veneer, without coming entirely through the veneer sheet, and at the same time it will remain tacky enough to stick or glue the veneer to the paper sheet 3. It is desirable to prevent this coating of glue from penetrating the wood veneer I completely, as when the sheets of veneer and paper are piled up under pressure, they will stick to each other; or when the embossing die presses against them in the embossing machine used to mount them on the wood background, the glue will stick to the said die, and build up a layer of glue on the die, which is disadvantageous. There is also a yet stronger reason for using this high grade calf-skin. glue for mounting the paper on the wood veneer, as will be further explained below. After the paper sheets are glued to the wood veneer sheets, the glue is allowed to thoroughly dry, say for instance a period of 8 hours or more is allowed, before the sheets of veneer and paper are used, and which are now able to be handled as unit-sheets, or like a single article. These sheets must be allowed to thoroughly dry, as a necessary feature of the process or method in hand as will be seen herein. Fig. 2 of the drawing shows the wood veneer sheet I glued to the paper sheet 3, so they represent a single unitary article. i

It is noted that usually for artistic reasons the wood-veneer I is preferably of contrasting color and grain, and often of a different kind of wood from that used as material for the background or base 2, as thereby a more attractive finished article or product is made. After the paper sheet 3 has been glued to the veneer sheet I, the exterior or under surface 4 of the paper sheet 3 is given a coating of a quite different kind of glue from that above described as calf-skin glue. The glue for the surface 4 is a glue having a low-melting point, and is of a more viscous nature than the calf-skin glue, and it is called in the trade bone and hide glue. The latter glue as will be seen, is used to secure the paper sheet 3 to the upper surface of the wood base or background 2, when suitable heat and pressure is used for the purpose, as will be further described herein.

It will be seen from the section in Figure 5 that the paper characters cut out of the unitary sheet of veneer and paper which is numbered 5 in addition to be glued down eventually on the base material 2 by the bone and hide glue layer 6, is further secured by means of the edges of the characters such as I, with their backing of paper 3, impressed or turned-in to the base material 2; and it is one of the principal features of the present invention that the permanent mounting of the veneer and paper characters, is accomplished by a combination of these features of the present method. The turning-in or embedding of the outer edges of the characters 1 into the basic material is accomplished by yet another special feature of the present invention, to wit, the cutting-die which is provided with sharpened cutting-edges, of a depth measured from the inner face of the characters of the die, sufficient to cut through the wood veneer and paper sheet 5 and shear the said characters completely from the said sheet, and penetrate a distance into the wood base material 2, as at 8, clearly shown in Figure 5 of the drawing. It will also be seen that while the edges of the cutting-die 9, such as l0, I0 are engaged in shearing and embedding the edges of the characters such as 1, that the fiat inner surfaces H, H of the die between the said cuttingedges l0, I0 are used to make the exterior surface of the paper [2 adhere to the surface l3 of the wood base 2. In order to form the adhesion just described both heat and pressure are used in connection with the cutting-die 9, to soften the glue layer of bone and hide glue at 6, which lies between the paper of the characters I and the top of the wood base 2.

In connection with the cutting-edges of the dies, it may be stated that as the invention is at present practised, using the wood veneer l, as one-eighty-fifth of an inch in thickness, that the cutting edges of the dies, are between 0.025 of an inch to 0.030 of an inch in depth, measured from the interior flat surface H of the die. lhe depth of these cutting edges l0, iii of course will vary according to the depth or thickness necessary to penetrate through the unitary sheet 5 used, and a proper distance into the wood base material as is at once understood.

It has been found further in practice, (some ninety thousand impressions having already been made) that after the characters such as I, have been cut through the unitary sheet 5, by the die, that unless the shearing edges of the cutting-die were formed in a certain way or form, that the unused material between the edges l4, and 15 in Figure 6 for instance, would stick fast or jam, In other words the characters 7 must be sheared and cut thoroughly from the unitary sheet 5. This is accomplished by forming the said edges of the die, as shown at l6, IS in Figure 9, that is to say the outside edges as I4 and I5 of the characters must be formed at a sharp bevel all around the outside edges of the letters or characters of the die. On the inner side of the cuttingeedges of the die as at l1, I! in Figure 9, the bevel can be made more gradual with a rounded portion at I8, I B because the space l9 between the edges 20, and 2| Fig. 9, being considerable the used veneer material is not liable to stick or jam fast, when the same is stripped from the face of the die.

Attention is drawn to the fact that in some of the earlier attempts to mount veneer characters on the wood base materials, that cutting-dies made of brass, having shallow depth cutting edges, and using counter-dies beneath the base material, were tried for the purpose in hand. It was found however that the veneer characters would split and stick in the dies, and the base material broke in the grain and pulled out of shape, due to the impact of the embossing-die, and the counter-die. These experiments which were done under the eyes of expert men in the embossing trade, proved conclusively that the brass dies, could not be successfully used, as the cutting edges of the brass dies moreover broke down and bent over, and necessitated the discarding of brass dies which had cost over five hundred and fifty dollars; and the purchasing of steel dies at a much higher cost. It was also found from these experiments that the counterdies should not be used and their use was accordingly abandoned. The brass dies used formerly in the trade had moreover substantially cutting edges which are perpendicular on their outside faces, and it was discovered that this caused the unused portions of the veneer between the outside edges of the characters (such as at point 22, between H and IS, in the Figure 6,) to stick fast in the die when the stripping operation took place. This led to the adoption of the bevelled outer side walls l6, l6 Figure 9 of the drawing, so that when the die was removed after the pressing and cutting operation on the veneer, that the edges of the characters on the die, would at once free themselves from all unused portions of the veneer sheet 5. Moreover the use of the steel and sharpened cutting edges 23 (Figure 9) on the cutting-die made it possible to completely sever the cut-out characters of veneer, from the sheet 5, and this also prevented the unnecessary sticking of the unused portions of the veneer sheet, and helped to prevent also the splitting and cracking of the veneer characters themselves during the stripping operation. In connection with the prevention of splitting and breaking of the material in the operations just described, the use of the backing material comprising the paper sheet 3, placed on the back of the wood veneer, to form the unitary sheet 5, must not be overlooked, as this is also a major factor in the successful cutting out of the characters from the sheet of wood veneer, and was one of the first steps discovered in the present method, and without its use the said method would hardly be practicable.

In the carrying out of the present invention, an embossing machine is preferably used, having a movable base plate 24, (see Figure 8 of the drawing) and a removable plate 25 on which the cutting-die is mounted either by gluing the latter thereto, or otherwise. The plate 25 is in turn mounted on the electrically heated, heating plate 26, which contains a thermostat 21, which controls the temperature of the parts 25 and the die 9. The heating plate 26, is carried by the supporting part 28 of the embossing machine (not shown). It will be understood that the upper structure 30 carrying all the parts shown in Fig ure 8 as connected thereto, remains stationary as part of the embossing machine, while the lower structure 3|, with its associated parts upon the operation of a lever connected with the embossing machine rises vertically, and brings the cutting-die 9 in direct pressure contact with the upper surface of the veneer sheet I, for the purpose of cutting the characters such as I from the unit sheet 5, the impressing of the edges of the veneer sheet characters 1 into the wood background material 2, as shown in Figure 5, and also pressing the paper 3 which is coated with the bone and hide glue into contacting and adhering relation with the top surface of the plywood material 2. All the above is accomplished at a single operation or action of the embossing machine. Attention is drawn to the successive arrangement of materials as they lie on the top of the base plate 24, in Figure 8. On the said plate 24 in order are superimposed the wood base material 2', the layer or coating of bone and hide glue 6, the brown paper backing 3, the layer of calf-skin glue 32, and the paper veneer sheet I from which the characters, letters, or designs are out.

From what has been described above the successive steps followed in the carrying out of the present method, it is believed are fairly clear, but will be stated briefly as follows.

The unitary sheet 5 from which the letters, designs or characters of veneer and paper are to be cut out, is first prepared as described above. The brown paper sheet 3 is coated with calfskin glue, and applied to the surface of the wood Veneer sheet I, and allowed to dry thoroughly for eight hours or more preferably.

Thereafter the exterior and under face l2 of the paper is then coated with the bone and hide glue, which has a lower melting point than the calf-skin glue.

Next the Wood base of plywood or other plastie and suitable material such as 2 is cut to the size desired, and mounted on the top of the base plate 24 of the embossing machine as shown in Figure 8. ,The cutting-die 9 is then mounted in proper position on the under side of the removable plate 25 of the embossing machine.

Next the unitary sheet 5 is placed in superimposed position on top of the basic plywood material 2, and in proper location thereon. The electric heating plate 26, Figure 8, is of course maintained in the predetermined temperature degree suitable to perform the heating of the bone and hide glue 6, between the lower surface of the paper 3 and the wood basic material 2, but held at a temperature just insufficient to melt the calf-skin glue 32.

Then the base plate 24 is raised, until the die contacts the upper surface of the wood veneer I, and the proper amount'of pressure is applied to the die to permit the cutting edges of same to shear the desired characters of wood-veneer and paper such as I, from the unitary sheet 5, and to impress or embed the edges of said characters into the plywood base material; and also press by means of the interior parts of the characters of the die such as II, I! Figure 6, the glued surface of the paper sheet characters 1 tightly against the surface of the basic material. It will be noted that the die being in a properly heated condition, that this tends to dry and make the paper characters adhere to the plywood.

The lower assembly 3! is then lowered, the design, and/or letters having been cut out and impressed, and glued to the plywood base 2. The excess wood veneer and paper of the unitary sheet 5, is then pulled off manually, in one piece, leaving the contrasting colored design or letters of wood veneer glued and permanently mounted on the wood base 2.

It is noted that the best efiects are produced in this method when the grain of the letters, designs and the like, runs in the same direction as the grain of the plywood base, as illustrated in Figure 4 of the drawing, since the letters are more readily cut from the unitary sheet of veneer and paper 5, and adhere better with reference to the plywood sheet 2, as is at once understood.

It will be clearly seen from the above description that some of the major factors which have made the present method and product a success, while other previous attempts by others, as well as the present inventors failures, when trying to mount wood veneer characters and designs on wood basic material such as plywood and the like, are the following. To wit; the use of paper as a backing for the thin and delicate wood veneer, which enables the die to clearly and perfectly shear the desired characters and designs from the wood veneer, without breaking and splitting the thin veneer; the use of the steel cutting-dies having sharpened cutting edges sufficient to penetrate the Wood veneer and paper, and extend into the wood basic material,

and thus tuck the edges of the said characters into the basic material; the use of steel dies instead of the brass dies heretofore used for similar or analogous uses; the use of dies with bevelled outside faces on their cutting-edges, which prevent the unused material between adjacent characters from sticking in the dies, when the same is stripped from the characters; and the discovery that two kinds of glue having different melting points should be used, in order not to separate the brown paper backing from the wood veneer, while the said paper is being glued to the surface of the plywood base. It will be observed also that after the materials such as the unitary sheet 5, and the plywood sheet 2, and the die are placed on the embossing machine, that the function of completely and permanently mounting the characters on the basic material, is performed in a single operation, and almost instantly, and this in turn enables speedy and mass production, as is at once understood. For instance the wood veneer and paper unitary sheets can be made in quantity, and stacked for instant use; the same die may be used for numerous impressions; the plywood sheets can be cut to size and also stacked for ready use. When all is ready the successive production of the finished articles can be made in the embossing machine in a very short time, and in great numbers.

It is further noted that a new article of manufacture has been produced, to wit, a plywood sheet with wood veneer characters of contrasting grain and tucked-in edges, and of different kind of wood, from the wood base material. The novel appearance of this new product is very attractive to the trade, and can be used for many various kinds of articles, such as merely to name a few, scrap books, guest, autograph, and phone call books, and all kinds of other wood novelties and the like, can be made using this novel method, and product.

The special die used is worthy of note also, and same was invented during the development of the present invention.

From which it is seen that I have invented a very novel and useful procedure and products for the purpose intended and above set out.

In connection with the present method it should be pointed out that the amount of pressure used on the cutting-die, and the degree of heat used for same when impressing the superimposed material such as the wood veneer, metal foil, or cloth on the basic material, are best determined from actual trial and experience with the kind, the thickness, and the nature of the materials which are to be associated with each other. For instance, the pressure and degree of temperature used with the cutting-die, will vary according as to whether wood veneer, metal foil or cloth is used as the superimposed material, and combined with any particular type of basic material; also whether the thickness of the superimposed material is very thin or comparatively thick. Moreover the degree of heat used for the die is usually determined by the length of time the material being mounted is kept or held in contact with the die; i. e., a low temperature in the die, and a long contact with the superimposed materials, will produce substantially the same result, as a higher temperature in the die, and a brief contact, so far as the performance of the method in hand is concerned.

Attention is also called to the fact that the present method may be applied to the mounting of other materials than wood veneer, on the base material, such as for instance, metal foil, and cloth, particularly suede cloth, all of which may be mounted on the paper backing, in similar fashion to the wood veneer, first mentioned above. In fact any materials which possesses the proper amount of ductility, and will not crack, split or break when the die is impressed on them, may be used for the superimposed characters, designs, and the like. Moreover, basic material other than wood may be used in combination with any of the just-mentioned superimposed materials, such as card-board and the like, provided it will permit the cutting edges of the die to impress and embed the said characters into the base.

It is to be also well noted, that the fact of not using a counter-die in the present method has the double effect of lessening the cost of same, as well as permitting of its successful operation.

I claim:

1. A method of mounting characters of wood veneer on a base of wood and the like material which consists in, first using a coat of glue having a comparatively high melting point to mount a sheet of paper on a sheet of wood veneer, to form a backing therefor and prevent cracking and splitting of the veneer when the same is cut by a die; then applying a coat of glue having a comparatively low melting point, and mixed with glycerine and water to the exterior surface of the said paper sheet; next placing the prepared sheet of veneer and paper on top of the base material, with the coated exterior surface of the paper sheet adjacent to the basic material; next applying a cutting-die having characters formed thereon, to the upper surface of the veneer, said die being heated to a temperature suificient to melt and soften the glue having the low melting point, but less than that required to melt the glue having the higher meiting point; and then using pressure on the die sufiicient to make the cutting edges of the die penetrate through the wood veneer, the paper backing, and somewhat into the surface of the base material, for the purpose of embedding the edges of the characters cut out by the die into the said base, while the under surface of the paper characters and the top surface of the base material are being securely glued together.

2. In a method of mounting characters of plastic materiai such as plywood and the like, on a background of plastic material such as plywood and the like, which consists in, using calfskin giue which has a comparatively high melting point, and a low coefficient of comparative viscosity, to mount a sheet of wood veneer on a sheet of paper, and permitting the glue to thoroughly dry; zen appiying a coat of bone and hide glue having a comparatively low melting point and high viscosity, mixed with glycerin and water to the exterior the sheet of paper; then superimposing the prepared double sheet of veneer and paper upon the base material using a cutting-die heated to a degree sufficient to melt and soften the bone and hide glue, but insuflicier to soften the calf-skin glue; and then applying pressure on the die, sufficient to cut the die characters from the wood veneer and paper, and impress the edges of the cut-out characters intothe wood base material, while the portions of said cut-out characters between the cuttingedges of the die are securely pressed into adhering relation with the surface of the base material, whereby the turned-in edges and the gluecovered surface of the cut-out characters, both co-act to secure the veneer and paper characters permanently on the base.

3. A method of mounting characters of wood veneer on a base material of wood and the like, which consists of first preparing a sheet of wood veneer about one eighty-fifth of an inch in thickness, and gluing thereto a sheet of paper to form a backing therefor; then coating the exterior surface of the paper sheet with glue having a lower melting point than the glue used between the paper and the wood veneer, and placing the veneer and paper unit sheet on the upper surface of the base material; next superimposing a steel cutting-die on the upper surface of the said unit sheet, said die being provided with characters the cutting sharpened edges of which are about three-tenths of an inch in depth measured from the inside face of the die, to enable the said edges of the die to clearly shear the characters from the veneer and paper unit sheet and penetrate a short distance into the base material when the die is operated under a suitable amount of pressure, thereby forming turned-in edges on the cut-out characters, which become embedded in the base material; then heating the die to a degree sufficient to soften the glue between the paper and the base material, but insufficient to soften the glue between the paper and the veneer; then applying the pressure mentioned on the die to cut out the characters from the wood and paper unit sheet, and secure the mounting of the characters on the wood base material, which is accomplished by the joint action of the adherence of the paper of the unit sheet to the base material, and the embedding of the turnedin edges of said sheet into the last-named material.

4. A method of mounting characters of Wood veneer, metal foil cloth and similar materials, on a base of wood, and similar pliant material, which consists in; first using a coat of glue having a comparatively high melting point to mount a sheet of paper on the sheet of material from which the characters are to be cut out, to form a unitary sheet; then applying a coat of glue having a comparatively low melting point and mixed with glycerin and water to the exterior surface of the paper sheet; next placing the unitary sheet on top of the base material, with the coated surface adjacent to the latter; next applying a cutting and pressing means with diecharacters formed thereon, to the upper surface of the unitary sheet, said means being heated to a temperature sufiicient to soften the glue having the lower melting point, but less than that required to melt the glue having the higher melting point; and then using enough pressure on the cutting and pressing means to make the cutting-edges of said means penetrate the unitary sheet completely and extend a short distance into the surface of the base material, for the purpose of embedding the edges of the cut-out characters into the base, while the bottom surfaces of said characters are pressed into intimate adhering contact with the base material.

5. A method of mounting characters of Wood veneer on a background of wood and similar material, which consists in first preparing a sheet of wood veneer which is glued to a sheet of paper using a glue having a comparatively high melting point, said paper being provided with an outer surface which carries a coating of glue having a low comparative melting point, and mixed with glycerin and water, then placing the wood veneer and paper on top of the said background material; next superimposing a cutting-die which has a number of characters thereon, the cutting-edges of which are acutely and outwardly beveled on their outside faces, on the top surface of the wood veneer; and then applying sufficient pressure and heat on the die to cut die-formed characters from the wood veneer and paper, and embed the edges thereof into the background material, while the under surfaces of the said cut-out characters are heated and pressed into adhering relation with the said material.

6. An article of the kind described herein, comprising a plurality of characters, each made of wood veneer, glued to a layer of paper, with a glue consisting of calf-skin glue having a high melting point and a low coefiicient of viscosity, a wood base material on which the characters are mounted using bone and hide glue which has a low melting point and a high coefficient of viscosity, the edges of the characters being embedded into the surface of the wood base material.

7. In an article of manufacture, a unitary sheet, comprising a sheet of wood veneer, and a sheet of paper, a coating of adhesive therebetween having a high melting point and a low coefficient of viscosity, and a coating of glue on the exterior surface of the sheet of paper, having a low melting point and a high coefficient of viscosity, said unitary sheet being adapted to form cut-out characters when acted upon by a cutting-die suited to the purpose.

8. A method of mounting characters of wood veneer and the like, on a base of wood and similar materials which comprises, first preparing a unitary sheet which is formed of wood veneer and paper glued together, using a calf-skin glue having a comparatively high melting point, and a low coefficient of viscosity, said paper being provided with an outer coating of bone and hide glue having a low comparative melting point, and a high coefiicient of viscosity, and mixed with glycerin and water; then placing the unitary sheet with the paper side on top of the said 

